PETA Says It’s Time State Fair Replaced Live-Birth Exhibit With Robotics  

For Immediate Release:
August 17, 2026

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

The Great New York State Fair is canceling its “Dairy Cow Birthing Center” exhibit for 2026, and PETA wants that to be permanent, sending a letter today to Fair Director Julie LaFave suggesting an AI-powered robot calf in place of stressed cows who have to give birth in front of noisy crowds. PETA points out that cows naturally seek seclusion when giving birth and that the “birth porn” spectacle turns a vulnerable moment into cheap entertainment. The high-tech talking calf could speak to fairgoers, giving them the plain facts of what cows and calves endure in the dairy industry and introduce visitors to dairy-free milks from plants grown by New York farmers.

The robot calf could reveal what happens once a real calf is born in the dairy industry: they are routinely separated from their distraught mothers almost immediately so that the milk intended for them can be sold. PETA is offering to hand out free vegan ice cream to visitors at a future fair to give fairgoers a taste of kinder options if LaFave agrees to keep live-birth exhibits off the schedule.

“A birthing barn turns a mother cow’s most vulnerable moment into a sideshow, then hastily drops the curtain before her calf is taken away,” says PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is asking the Great New York State Fair to retire this cruel spectacle and let an AI-powered calf entertain fairgoers while introducing them to the benefits of delicious, 100% cholesterol-free, plant milks.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness and free Vegan Starter Kits for anyone thinking of making the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to LaFave follows.

August 17, 2026

Julie LaFave

Director of the Great New York State Fair

Dear Ms. LaFave:

Greetings! I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 10.4 million members and supporters globally, including hundreds of thousands in New York—to thank you for your decision to cancel this year’s Dairy Cow Birthing Center exhibit. Please, will you make this temporary pause permanent and commit to not featuring this exhibit in future programming? Allow me to offer three good reasons for doing so:

1. The birthing center could be called birth porn, as the only individuals who should be present when any female gives birth are the father and any needed medical staff. Cows choose to give birth in private, and it is disrespectful to compel them to do so while being gawked at by crowds of loud humans.
2. Watching a calf being born is misleading and obscures a large part of the dairy industry’s story. According to a recent poll conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of PETA, 85% of Americans (including 80% of college graduates) don’t realize that these “cute” calves are permanently removed from their mothers—usually within hours of their birth and then bottle-fed a milk replacer—so that the milk intended to feed them can be sold to humans instead. Cows are intelligent, sensitive animals who—just like human mothers—form close bonds with their young. They’ve been known to search for miles and chase after vehicles, hoping to be reunited with their calf, and have even hidden calves so that they wouldn’t be taken away. They cry out in distress for weeks after their babies have been torn away from them.
3. This exhibit gives short shrift to plant milk producers: Given that New York is a thriving producer of plant milks and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s most vegan-friendly states, this is an ideal opportunity to reimagine this exhibit so that it will appeal to the millions of residents and visitors who don’t consume dairy or support the dairy industry for ethical, environmental, health, or religious reasons. Future plans could honor cows and promote vegan milks, and you could even consider hosting an exhibit featuring an interactive, animatronic calf—like PETA’s walking, talking, dancing robot calf, Charli XC, who has captivated audiences across the country and has appeared on national TV.

If you choose to move ahead with a compassionate attraction that celebrates innovation without relying on the use of live animals, we’d be happy to hand out free, delicious vegan ice cream to the first 500 exhibit visitors. Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid Newkirk

Founder

Survey Method:

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of PETA from July 23 – 24, 2026 among 2,007 adults ages 18 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.